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We extract the Biostar Z690 Valkyrie from all its packaging and we find ourselves before a motherboard with a conventional design in terms of the PCB, but with oversized and aggressively designed heatsinks for the VRM and the M.2 that facilitate their cooling. It is true that this aesthetic is not usually the most successful in these parts, but for color tastes.
Read more @ El Chapuzas Informatico (Spanish)
The Maximus Formula has been the go-to enthusiast platform for years. Living between the Hero, one of the best gaming platforms, and Extreme, the top-tier ROG board is no easy task. Still, the Z690 Formula manages quite well, offering legit connectivity from Thunderbolt 4 to USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 10Gbe with the help of Marvell AQC chipset and top-of-the-line audio with the new Realtek ALC4082.
Read more @ TweakTown
Last week widespread reports of melting MOSFETs on Asus’ Z690 Hero motherboards emerged across various social media platforms, with pictures of motherboards that met a fiery fate spurring a bit of investigation from the enthusiast community. We followed up with Asus to learn more, and the company acknowledged the issues to Tom’s Hardware (below) and provided a full statement on the underlying causes. The company is also beginning a replacement program for impacted users.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware
Performance on the Z690 Tomahawk ended up average overall among the other boards we tested. While all tests were very close in either direction, the Procyon tests showed the most significant departure from average, matching the slower DDR4 boards more closely than their DDR5 counterparts. Gaming results were on par, if not marginally faster, than the rest so we’re in good shape there.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is supplied in a box with a slightly updated design of the previous models. On the front side you can see the name of the board, some logos of the component manufacturers and the technologies used, as well as the image of the board.
The package is not very large – it includes a user manual, a set of branded stickers, a card with information about the ROG series, a USB flash drive with drivers, a fabric logo keychain, a metal holder for a video card, a pair of adapters for RGB devices, four SATA cables and screws for fixing M.2 drives.
Read more @ i2Hard (Russian)
Networking connectivity includes Wi-Fi 63 with the Intel AX210 chipset; LAN is powered by the Marvell AQC113C 10Gbe, supporting the multi-gig operation. USB 3.2 is supported throughout the board with an external port on the rear I/O and internally with headers. The rear I/O includes a Gen2x2 and five Gen2 ports in red and another four Gen 1 ports in blue. Audio is pushed through the now-aging ALC1220 chipset from Realtek, but GIGABYTE does include the ESS 9118 DAC.
Read more @ TweakTown
But leaving aside the non-enlightenment. The most interesting thing about this board is possibly the type of memory it uses, I am talking about the well-known DDR4 memory. For this, the Tomahawk has 4 slots that support up to 128Gb in total and that support speeds of up to 5200MHz with overclock . Although, as you already know, depending on the memory that is installed, this speed can be very different.
Read more @ NewEsc (Spanish)
Even if the availability of the WLAN version (Z690 Steel Legend WiFi 6E) doesn’t look good at the moment, the manufacturer ASRock has included two variants in its range. But even the non-WLAN edition costs around 300 euros. For this purchase price, in addition to further PCIe slots, there is also one PCIe 5.0 x16, three M.2 M-Key interfaces, eight SATA 6 GBit/s sockets and of course a 2.5 GBit/s LAN Port. For the eye, the ATX motherboard also includes RGB LED lighting in three places, which form ASRock’s Polychrome RGB feature.
Read more @ Hardwareluxx (German)
So what’s the whole issue about? Well it’s too early to tell but based on the information shared by user, Maximumrog57, it looks like the issue occured a few days after the system was fired up. The user mentions that he heard a clanky noise but there was no visible indication of any damage on the board itself. However, the very next day, the motherboard failed to boot and reported the 53 error on the QCODE ‘DEBUG’ while the QLED lit up in orange color. The user also saw visible burn damage on the chips right below the QLED.
Read more @ Wccftech
At $289.99, the Asus TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WIFI D4 is a solid option for a more-affordable Alder Lake build, with DDR4 support, four M.2 sockets, 2.5 GbE and integrated Wi-Fi 6, an updated appearance and capable power delivery. This is an excellent low-priced option unless you need more than four SATA ports and six USB Type-A ports on the rear IO.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware